David Ben-Gurion

David Ben-Gurion (Oct 16, 1886 Plonsk (Poland) - Dec 1, 1973 Tel-Aviv) was the founder of the modern state of Israel, which he proclaimed on May 4, 1948. He served Israel as its first prime minister until 1963 except for a brief period from 1954 to 1955. He was also minister of defense.

A Zionist, he settled in Palestine as an orchard worker in 1906. He was involved in the foundation of the worker's union Histradut (general secretary 1921 - 1935) and of the socialist party Mapai. As chairman of the Jewish Agency (1935-1948), he organized the immigration of Jewish refugees from Europe to Palestine against the resistance of the PalestinianArabs and the British, who held a League of Nations mandate over the area and wished to avoid immigration policies that would upset the status quo. In 1944, he became president of the World Zionist Organization.